Are S&W 1911 Slides really hard?

RGPM1A · Jul 26, 2023

A buddy of mine asked me to install a flange type reverse plug and full length guide rod in his full size S&W 1911. To do this you need to take about 0.070" (the width of the flange on the reverse plug) off the back to the guide rod tunnel and bore out a lip at that location before the reverse plug will slide into the guide rod tunnel and be even with the front of the slide. I have done this on several guns so far with no issues (4 guns so far but never an S&W). This slide did not need to have the lip bored out of it so I marked a line for how far the tunnel needed to be cut, clamped the slides in a soft jaw vise and tried to use a safe sided file to make the cut as I usually do. The slide appeared to be almost as hard as the file and it would not cut! Anyone ever run into this or know if S&W 1911 slides are really, really hard? Is a mill with a carbide bit required?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Ruger 13 · Jul 26, 2023

I don’t think they’re harder than any other manufacturers……….Google it!

RGPM1A · Jul 27, 2023

Ruger 1 said:
I don’t think they’re harder than any other manufacturers……….Google it!

As a matter of fact I did Google it. I found a detailed history of heat treating the slides and frames of 1911s, when it started, parts of the slides and frames that are heat treated, that slides are usually harder than the frames to minimized galling and/or wear, and even found hardness numbers for Les Baer and Colt parts. But I could not find any specific citations for S&W slides or any slide hardness anomalies. Since I never encountered a super hard slide on both Colts, a Springfield Armory and an old STI Trojan 1911s that I did this to in the past I thought I would tap into the collective knowledge on this forum to see if anyone else ran into this.

BTW thank you for your unhelpful response. Sorry you had to waste you precious time typing it.

Ruger 13 · Jul 27, 2023

Excuse me…….just trying to help!

minconrevo · Jul 27, 2023

A better machine shop or any commercial heat treat facility will have Rockwell testing equipment and employees certified to run. Unless you are regular big customer, expect to pay $$.

I can tell you want the current spec Rockwell is for most commercial slides but don't think this is what you want to know.

paladin42 · Jul 27, 2023

There's no need to be nasty to someone who's trying to help.

There's no need to be nasty to someone who's trying to help.

===========================

RGPM1A said:
As a matter of fact I did Google it. I found a detailed history of heat treating the slides and frames of 1911s, when it started, parts of the slides and frames that are heat treated, that slides are usually harder than the frames to minimized galling and/or wear, and even found hardness numbers for Les Baer and Colt parts. But I could not find any specific citations for S&W slides or any slide hardness anomalies. Since I never encountered a super hard slide on both Colts, a Springfield Armory and an old STI Trojan 1911s that I did this to in the past I thought I would tap into the collective knowledge on this forum to see if anyone else ran into this.

BTW thank you for your unhelpful response. Sorry you had to waste you precious time typing it.

SnidelyWhiplash · Jul 27, 2023

To solve the galling problem with stainless steel…Colt and S&W went two different but equally effective routes. Colt heat treated the slides and receivers differently and S&W used two different grades of stainless steel for the slide and receiver.

RGPM1A · Jul 29, 2023

minconrevo said:
A better machine shop or any commercial heat treat facility will have Rockwell testing equipment and employees certified to run. Unless you are regular big customer, expect to pay $$.

I can tell you want the current spec Rockwell is for most commercial slides but don't think this is what you want to know.

Thank you for the reply. Hardness testing won't answer my question as I already know the slide is so hard my safe sided file won't touch it (my files are from a very high quality set costing about $40 per file) what I really would like to know if anyone else ever ran into this and what they did.

RGPM1A · Jul 29, 2023

SnidelyWhiplash said:
To solve the galling problem with stainless steel…Colt and S&W went two different but equally effective routes. Colt heat treated the slides and receivers differently and S&W used two different grades of stainless steel for the slide and receiver.

Thank you for the reply. I found this mentioned many times in my Google search.

Are S&W 1911 Slides really hard?

RGPM1A

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Ruger 13

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